Shifting cultivation in India is known as jhum in Assam, punam krishi is Kerala, podu in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, bewar, mashan, penda and beera in different parts of Madhya Pradesh.

Shifting cultivation is practiced by tribal people. About 20 lakhs hectares of forests are cleared every year by felling and burning the trees and shrubs.

These clearings are cultivated under very crude and extravagant methods for 2-3 years and then abandoned when fertility dwindles or soil erosion makes it unfit or forests reappear.

Paddy, buck wheat, maize, millets, tobacco, some vegetables and banana are grown on the burnt over clearings and the products shared jointly by the clan. Dry deciduous forests are especially suited to jhumming. This wasteful practice in difficult terrain obviously supports a very sparse population.

#3 SAATHIYA

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched the SAATHIYA Resource Kit including ‘Saathiya Salah’ Mobile App for adolescents, as part of the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) program

One of the key interventions under the programme is introduction of the Peer Educators (Saathiyas) who act as a catalyst for generating demand for the adolescent health services and imparting age appropriate knowledge on key adolescent health issues to their peer groups

Threats: Collected for decoration and jewellery trade. This group is also sensitive to temperature rise, and is thought to have completely disappeared from the majority of marine areas possibly because of growing global warming related bleaching effects.

#6 GLOBAL GEOPARKS NETWORK (GGN)

Global Geoparks Network (GGN) is a UNESCO programme established in 1998. Managed under the body’s Ecological and Earth Sciences Division, the GGN seeks the promotion and conservation of the planet’s geological heritage, as well as encourages the sustainable research and development by the concerned communities. A GEOPARK is a nationally protected area containing a number of geological heritage sites of particular importance, rarity or aesthetic These Earth heritage sites are part of an integrated concept of protection, education and sustainable development. There are 54 Geoparks worldwide. No Geopark is located in India.

#7 SAUNI Yojana

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the first phase of SAUNI (Saurastra Narmada Avataran Irrigation) Yojana at Sanodara of Jamnagar district of Gujarat.

SAUNI Yojana is multipurpose project that aims to solve the water problems of a parched Saurashtra region of Gujarat.

Key Facts

Technically, SAUNI is a ‘linking’ project where the water will be filled in irrigation dams that are already equipped with canal network.

Under this project, 115 dams in the Saurashtra region will be filled with excess water from the Sardar Sarovar dam.

In the first phase, around 10 dams and reservoirs of Rajkot, Jamnagar and Morbi districts will be filled with water from Narmada River for irrigation and drinking purposes.

SAUNI project involves making pipe canals instead of the conventional open canals which has led to no acquisition of land for the project.

This network of canals will comprise 1,125-km network of pipelines that will help to channel water into farms.

Background

Saruashtra region of Gujarat comprises 11 districts. These districts faces drought like situation often and has been reeling under severe water scarcity due to scanty rainfall. The SAUNI Yojana was announced in 2012 when PM Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

4-Kanpur Conspiracy Case (1924)— British government started the case against four communists-Muzaffar Ahmed, S.A.Dange, Shaukat Usmani and Nalni Gupta. The government alleged that the Communists wanted to deprive the British King of the sovereignty of British India.

5-Kakori Conspiracy Case— On August 9, 1925, ten revolutionaries held up the 8-Down train from Saharanpur to Lucknow ai Kakori and looted its official railway cash. Asfaqullah Khan, Ramprasad Bismil and Roshan Lehri were hanged.

7-Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929)— The Meerut Conspiracy case started with the issuing of arrest warrants against 31 Communists and other persons on 15th March 1929. The charges were that these persons conspired to overthrow the British Government of India through strikes and other militant methods. By 20th of March almost all were arrested. The arrested included almost all the known communists including Muzafr Ahamed, S.A.Dange, S.V.Ghate, Dr.G.Adhikari, P.C.Joshi, S.S.Mirajkar, Shaukat Usmani, Philip Stratt and others.

#9 Negative Income Tax rate

DEFINITION of 'Negative Income Tax - NIT'

A guaranteed minimum income plan advocated by economist Milton Friedman in 1962 where federal income subsidies are provided to persons or families whose income falls below a certain level.

Negative income tax (NIT) would allow claimants to receive income through the simple filing of tax returns rather than through the claiming of welfare benefits, ideally eliminating the need for a complex welfare bureaucracy.

BREAKING DOWN 'Negative Income Tax - NIT'

The primary criticism of the negative income tax is that it discourages some low-income individuals from working. If one can receive $2,500 from the government for not working at all versus $5,000 for dozens of hours of work, some people will choose to not work because they would rather have more leisure time even if it means less money and an inability to meet basic living expenses.

Another criticism is that a negative income tax system cannot eliminate the complexities associated with the welfare system because the taxpayers who fund the subsidies demand accountability from the taxpayers who receive the subsidies. This demand necessitates a complex system of rules and oversight intended to prevent abuse of the system.